Increasingly, both individual and corporate computer users are turning to “web services.” One accepted definition of web services is provided by, Microsoft Corporation: “A Web Service is programmable application logic accessible using standard Internet protocols. Web services combine the best aspects of component-based development and the Web. Like components, Web services represent black-box functionality that can be reused without worrying about how the service is implemented. Unlike current component technologies, Web services are not accessed via object-model-specific protocols, such as the distributed Component Object Model (DCOM), Remote Method Invocation (RMI), or Internet Inter-ORB Protocol (IIOP). Instead, Web services are accessed via ubiquitous Web protocols and data formats, such as Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and Extensible Markup Language (XML). Furthermore, a Web Service interface is defined strictly in terms of the messages the Web Service accepts and generates. Consumers of the Web Service can be implemented on any platform in any programming language, as long as they can create and consume the messages defined for the Web Service interface.”
Moving into a web services paradigm presents many challenges to the service provider. The following are some of the technical and business challenges presented by the age of electronic business: technology changes and evolution; proprietary execution environments and platforms; difficulties in building global systems while conforming to local customs, human factors, business practices, regulations, and laws; introduction of new business processes and services; changing business processes and services; and varied business processes for different parts of the enterprise.
Other challenges include disparate business processes and services with in an enterprise; disparate business processes and services between corporations; varied business system flow or navigation for different parts of the enterprise; designing a portfolio of business processes to choose from, some of which serve a similar purpose; multiple user devices; and lack of consistency in systems implementation.
Traditional responses to this problem often provide short-term solutions but tend to compound the problem in the long-term. There is, therefore, a need in the art for an improved system, method, and framework for delivering web services.